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Friday, 20 March 2015

Digimon Marathon: Digimon Fusion. Dr Frankenstein would be proud

It pains me to conclude the Digimon Marathon so quickly, but sadly schedules can be a pain sometimes. There is however, one last completed season to review, and with both Season 2 and the upcoming Digimon Adventure Tri to look forward to, I guarantee this won't be the last time Digimon makes an appearance here. Time to delve into the world of Digimon Fusion.

Set once again in a new universe, the Digital World, now decided into several zones that can be considered pocket dimensions, is once again under threat. Four teams want the Code Crowns, items that can, when united, remold the Digital World. Lord Bagra and his dark forces, Team Blue Flare, AxeKnightmon and the Fusion Fighters... Yeah... that's it so far... Digimon Fusion in Japan is known as Xros Wars (Cross Wars) and its divided into three seasons. As such, I can't go on with the plot summary until the later seasons.

Only three Digi Destined are equiped with the newest model of Digivice, the Fusion Loader. But unlike every other season, they don't really unite until the very end, and even then there's a curveball. You've got Mikey who's the general of the Fusion fighters, partnered primarily with Shoutmon, who does actually break the trend of Goggleheads. While up beat as per the minimum requirements, Mikey's also a very good strategist, and doesn't charge in fireballs flying. Nene who's taking orders from AxeKnightmon, who's shrouded in mystery for most of the season (also another case of reusing voice actors, hello once again Malissa Fahn). Finaly, the general of Team Blue Flare: Christopher... who can literally be summed up in one word, Angst. I can't say much about Lord Bagra as for most of season 1, he suffers from Dr. Claw syndrome.

While I like the lighter tone in comparison to previous seasons, this being aided by the main gimmick, Fusion Digivolution, which is exactly what it sounds like, the brighter colour palette and the fact that there are attempts at comedy. Season 1 feels rushed. Each zone has about 3-4 episodes at most to it before the area completely changes. One moment you can be in a plains area, next a volcano, then a beach, then a Junkyard, then a dentist's worst nightmare and more. While I know this is a common trend with Digimon, this zone structure makes it worse because it feels like this isn't a connected world, and seeing as Digimon can't leave the zones normally, they can also be considered as glorified prison cells.

At the end of the day, Digimon Fusion Season 1 is just that, a first season. Most of the characters haven't developed yet and the story itself is only (at first glance) a third of the way through. But it does bring back the series to its routes, that being the world isn't anything like the real world. And with that, it's time to conclude the Digimon Marathon. While it may not be as popular as what its compared to, this should at least conclusively prove its not the same. Always adapting, always expanding, but always with the core of the series at its heart, the fact that, in terms of the lore, the Digital World relies on the imagination of children. And to a child, everything that happens in this franchise can make sense, as a child doesn't care about real world evolution, so a puffball, evolving into a rabbit, evolving into a dinosaur makes sense. I'm not going to give a exact time of the next post, I'll make an announcement on Twitter as to when its going to be published, but when I return from my hiatus, there's going to be a lot for you, 3 posts in a new series of content, a few top x lists and the next review: Transformers Prime. See you all in a few weeks, and if you're going to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, tell me what shows you're going to see, who knows, I might be working on those shows. If you go onto my Twitter page, a hint to the next marathon is on there.